Pastoral Relief and Retreat

I am Pastor at Poquonock Community Church, Congregational (CCCC) in Windsor, CT. My wife Jama and I live in Wetherfield, CT.
We'd like to invite you to Terre Haute -- High Ground -- That's what Jama and I call the retreat space on our property. We offer free intentional get-away retreats. We'll feed you and house you and give you space to be with the Lord. All are welcome; no questions asked.
This blog is my daily devotional journal. I write it because it is so easy to go for weeks without ever taking the time to be alone with God. Writing helps me develop a discipline I need.

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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Today!

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will
be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must
put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the
perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then
shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your
sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the
power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be
steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in
the Lord your labor is not in vain.

(1 Corinthians 15:51-58 ESV)

In the Authorized Version (1611), part of this passage
reads, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

Corruption, as the word was understood in the early 1600s,
was synonymous with spoilage and decay.We don’t much think about the background of words, but this is a good
one to meditate on.When we talk about
perishable foods today, the word doesn’t quite convey the flat-out disgust we
feel when we come in contact with (and here’s another antiquated word)
“carrion” – a dead carcass.In order for
something to have “seen corruption,” it has to have been dead for a good long
while.

A few years ago Jama and I were sitting on the deck behind
our house having dinner with friends on a pleasant summer’s evening.The table was very close to the edge of the
deck, which itself was at ground level.About half way through dinner I glanced down at the ground, and there
was the carcass of a dead squirrel.Its
front legs were raised up near its face, which bore a horrified look.Discussing it later, we all agreed that look
was the last thing that squirrel experienced before our dog Truman finished him
off.Needless to say, none of us really
had much appetite after that.The
squirrel had seen corruption, indeed.

And isn’t that what we all fear about death?It isn’t hell that we’re afraid of, though I
suppose we ought to be.Most of us are
far more afraid of corruption because we so associate our soul with our
body.I know people who visit the graves
of departed loved ones and speak to the ground, fully believing that is where
the person is.But for the Christ-One,
for the Christian, what happened to Jesus is promised to happen to you.They said of Jesus, “Why do you seek the
living among the dead?He is not
here.He has risen!”

Jama and I are only in our mid-50s, and yet we already feel
like our bodies are falling apart.Partly, that’s our own fault for not getting more exercise.But we are being prepared to move on.We are being convinced daily that this body
is not our home.As Paul says, “our
commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior.”My hope is not in heaven, though.My hope is in Jesus.Whatever heaven may be, I’ve been promised
that by simply placing my trust in him, I will be with him in Glory.

As the old hymn says,

Change and decay, in all around I
see

O Thou, who changest not, abide
with me!

What gets me out of bed most mornings isn’t another day in
the paradise that is this world.I can
get pretty cynical just feeling whatever new ache my body presents me
with.But there is One who knows the
aches – who has known every ache the body, heart, and mind have to offer – and who
rose… above all that.When I remember
him, I get out of bed.I stretch. I smile.I shake off the approaching corruption of
body and join him in the adventure that is an endless “Today!” of the soul.